Text by: Stephen H. Lekson, University of Colorado, Boulder, June 19, 2006
Chaco Timeline created by: Lynne Sebastian, Carla Van West, R Gwinn Vivian, and Elsner Hayward

The last major excavation at Chaco Canyon was the National Park Service's "Chaco Project,"from 1971 to 1982.   Twenty-five sites were tested or partially excavated, culminating in three years' work at Pueblo Alto.  The "Chaco Project"produced over 20 monographs and scores of articles, chapters, and shorter contributions; but there was no accessible summary or synthesis which brought all these data and ideas together.  In 1997, the National Park Service and the University of Colorado began a program to revisit the data collected by the Chaco Project.  The CU-NPS "Chaco Synthesis"centered on several working meetings held between March 1999 and October 2000.  The first five working meetings paired Chaco Project staff and Chaco experts with scholars from other areas, re-examining Chaco Project data.  Meeting themes included "Economy and Ecology,""Organization of Production,""Architecture,""Society and Polity,"and "The Chaco World.'  The thematic, working meetings were followed by a large "Capstone"conference at the University of New Mexico (October 2002) and a final seminar at the School of American Research (May 2004).   

Architecture_Settlement[Right: Architecture Settlement, Download pdf]

Chaco archaeology is remarkable for large numbers of absolute dates - mainly tree-ring dates - available for researchers. There are literally thousands of tree-ring dates from scores of sites at Chaco. A timeline of Chaco archaeology, based on dendrochronology, was begun by Gwinn Vivian and Carla Van West at the "Economy and Ecology" meeting. Lynne Sebastian (who chaired the "Capstone" conference) gathered additional data from Chaco Synthesis scholars, and constructed the "Chaco Timeline" with the assistance of Carla Van West and Cindy Elsner Hayward. The timeline structured discussions at both the Capstone and SAR meetings.
Download the full pdf here. [download pdf]

The results of the working meetings and conferences were published in several books and journals, and summarized in The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon (edited by S.H. Lekson, School of American Research Press, 2006).


(compiled by Joan Mathien & Steve Lekson)

Organization of Production:
Location: University of Colorado, Boulder CO; March 21-23, 1999
Organizers: Catherine M. Cameron, H. Wolcott Toll
Participants: Timothy Earle, Melissa Hagstrum, Peter Peregrine, Lord Colin Renfrew NPS: Peter J. McKenna, Frances Joan Mathien, Thomas C. Windes
Other attendees: Karin Burd, Michael Larkin, Stephen H. Lekson
Publications: Cameron Catherine M., and H. Wolcott Toll (guest editors) 2001 American Antiquity 66(1).

Articles include:

  • Cameron, Catherine M., and H. Wolcott Toll "Deciphering the Organization of Production in Chaco Canyon," pp. 5-13.
  • Renfrew, Colin "Production and Consumption in a Sacred Economy: The Material Correlates of High Devotional Expression at Chaco Canyon," pp. 14-25.
  • Earle, Timothy "Economic Support of Chaco Canyon Society," pp. 26-35.
  • Peregrine, Peter N. "Matrilocality, Corporate Strategy, and the Organization of Production in the Chacoan World," pp. 36-46.
  • Hagstrum, Melissa "Household Production in Chaco Canyon Society," pp. 47-55.
  • Toll, H. Wolcott "Making and Breaking Pots in the Chaco World," pp. 56-78.
  • Cameron, Catherine M. "Pink Chert, Projectile Points, and the Chacoan Regional System," pp. 79-102.
  • Mathien, Frances Joan "The Organization of Turquoise Production and Consumption by the Prehistoric Chacoans," pp. 103-118.
  • Windes, Thomas C., and Peter J. McKenna "Going Against the Grain: Wood Production in Chacoan Society," pp. 119-140.

Environmental_Variables [Left: Environmental Variables,
Download pdf]

Social Polity

Location: Fort Lewis College, Durango CO, and Chaco Culture National Historical Park; May 3-7, 1999
Organizers: Linda S. Cordell, W. James Judge
Participants: Nancy Mahoney, Mark Varien, John Ware, Henry T. Wright, Norman Yoffee


NPS: Frances Joan Mathien, Thomas C. Windes
Other attendees: Susan Bryan, Karin Burd, Michael Larkin, Stephen H. Lekson Publications: Cordell, Linda S., W. James Judge, and June-el Piper (editors) 2001 Chaco Society and Polity: Papers from the 1999 Conference. New Mexico Archeological Council Special Publication No. 4. New Mexico Archeological Council, Albuquerque. [Environmental Variables, Download pdf]

Chapters include:

  • Lekson, Stephen H., and Karin Burd "Foreword," ". vii-ix.
  • Cordell, Linda S., and W. James Judge "Perspectives on Chaco Society and Polity," pp. 1-12.
  • Mahoney, Nancy "Monumental Architecture as Conspicuous Display in Chaco Canyon," pp. 13-29.
  • Windes, Tom "House Location Patterns in the Chaco Canyon Area. A Short Description," pp. 31-45.
  • Varien, Mark D. "We Have Learned A Lot, But We Still Have More to Learn," pp. 47-61.
  • Yoffee, Norman "The Chaco"Rituality" Revisited," pp. 63-78.
  • Ware, John A. "Chaco Social Organization: A Peripheral View," pp. 79-93.

Chaco World

Location: Arizona State University, Tempe AZ; September 25-27, 1999
Organizers: John Kantner, Keith Kintigh, Nancy Mahoney Participants: David Anderson, Roger Anyon, David Doyel, Dennis Gilpin, Sarah Herr, Winston Hurst, James Kendrick, Timothy Pauketat, Kathy Roler, Sarah Schlanger, Ruth Van Dyke
NPS: Dabney Ford, Frances Joan Mathien, Robert P. Powers, Charles Wilson, Thomas C. Windes
Other Attendees: Karin Burd, Michael Larkin, Stephen H. Lekson

Publications:

  • Kantner, John (guest editor) 2003 Kiva 69(2)
  • Articles include:
  • Kantner, John "The Chaco World," pp. 83-92.
  • Kintigh, Keith "Coming to Terms with the Chaco World," pp. 93-116.
  • Van Dyke, Ruth M. "Bounding Chaco: Great House Architectural Variability Across Time and Space," pp. 117-139.
  • Durand, Kathy Roler "Function of Chaco-Era Great Houses," pp. 141-169.
  • Gilpin, Dennis"Chaco-Era Site Clustering and the Concept of Communities," pp. 171-205.
  • Kantner, John "Rethinking Chaco as a System," pp. 207-227.
    Database: http://sipapu.gsu.edu/Chacoworld.html

Economy and Ecology

Location: University of Arizona Desert Laboratory Tucson AZ; October 28-30, 1999
Organizers: Julio Betancourt, Jeffrey S. Dean, Carla VanWest, R. Gwinn Vivian
Participants: Nancy J. Akins, William Doolittle, Brian Fagan, Enrique Salmon, Mollie S. Toll
NPS: Dabney Ford, Frances Joan Mathien, Charles Wilson, Thomas C. Windes
Other attendees: Karin Burd, Michael Larkin, Stephen H. Lekson
Publications: See "Chaco Synthesis"below.

Material_Culture
[Above: Material Culture, Download pdf]

Chaco, Mesa Verde and the Confrontation With Time

Location: University of Colorado, Boulder CO; February 24-26, 2000
Organizers: Stephen H. Lekson, Patricia Limerick
Participants: Vine Deloria Jr., Leah Dilworth, Ann Fabian, Peter Goin, Robert Greenlee, Roger Kennedy, Tessie Navanjo, Simon Ortiz, Enrique Salmon, Reg Saner, Charles Scoggin
NPS: Russell Bodnar, Frances Joan Mathien

Chaco Architecture

Location: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM and Chaco Culture National Historical Park; September 28 - October 3, 2000
Organizers: Stephen H. Lekson, Thomas C. Windes
Participants: Nancy Akins, Wendy Ashmore, Taft Blackhorse, Patricia Fournier, Richard Friedman, Ben Nelson, John D. Schelberg, Anna Sofaer, David Stuart,
John Stein, Phillip Tuwaleststiwa, Ruth Van Dyke, Jay Williams
NPS: Russ Bodnar, G. B. Cornucopia, Dabney Ford, Frances Joan Mathien, Charles Wilson
Other attendees: Elizabeth Bagwell, Karin Burd, Gretchen Jordan, Michael Larkin, Marianne Tyndell, Chris Ward, Devin White
Publications: Lekson, Stephen H. (editor) 2006 Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, in press.

Chapters include:

  • Lekson, Stephen H. "Foreword" and "Introduction to Chaco Architecture"

  • Windes, Thomas C. "Gearing Up and Piling On: Early Greathouses in the Chaco Basin"

  • Van Dyke, Ruth M. "Great Kivas in Time, Space, & Society"

  • Neitzel, Jill E."Interpreting Pueblo Bonito's Architecture"

  • Lekson, Stephen H., Thomas C. Windes, and Patricia Fournier
    "The Changing Faces of Chetro Ketl"

  • Ashmore, Wendy "Building Social History at Pueblo Bonito"

  • Stein, John, Rich Friedman, and Taft Blackhorse "Revisiting Downtown Chaco"

  • Sofaer, Anna "The Primary Architecture of the Chacoan Culture"

Capstone Conference

Location: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM; October 16-19, 2002
Organizer: Lynne Sebastian
Participants: Catherine M. Cameron, W. James Judge, John Kantner, Keith Kintigh, Stephen H. Lekson, William Lipe, Ben Nelson, H. Wolcott Toll, R. Gwinn Vivian,
Carla Van West
NPS: Russell Bodnar, Stephanie Dubois, Dabney Ford, Frances Joan Mathien, Robert P. Powers, Thomas C. Windes
Other attendees: Brian Fagan, David Grant Noble
Publications: see "Chaco Synthesis" below.

Chaco Synthesis

[Right: Subsistence Resources, Download pdf]

Location: School of American Research, Santa Fe NM;
May 5-6, 2004
Organizer: Stephen H. Lekson
Participants: Linda Cordell, W. James Judge, John Kantner, Richard Leventhal, Ben Nelson, Timothy Pauketat, Lynne Sebastian, H. Wolcott Toll, Ruth Van Dyke, Norman Yoffee
NPS: Frances Joan Mathien, Thomas C. Windes
Other attendees: David Grant Noble
Publications: Lekson, Stephen H. (editor) 2006 The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon, An Eleventh-Century Pueblo Regional Center. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.

Chapters include:

  • Powers, Robert P. "Foreword"

  • Lekson, Stephen H. "Chaco Matters: An Introduction"

  • R. Gwinn Vivian, Carla R. Van West, Jeffrey S. Dean, Nancy J. Akins, Mollie S. Toll, and Thomas C. Windes "Ecology and Economy"

  • Lekson, Stephen H., Thomas C. Windes, and Peter J. McKenna "Architecture"

  • Toll, H. Wolcott "Organization of Production"

  • Kantner, John W. and Keith W. Kintigh "The Chaco World"

  • Judge, W. James and Linda S. Cordell "Society and Polity"

  • Wilshusen, Richard H. and Ruth M. Van Dyke "Chaco's Beginnings"

  • Lipe, William D. "Notes from the North"

  • Duff, Andrew I. and Stephen H. Lekson "Notes from the South"

  • Nelson, Ben A. "Mesoamerican Objects and Symbols in Chaco Canyon Contexts"

  • Wilshusen, Richard H. and W. Derek Hamilton "The Chaco Project in Historical Context"

  • Sebastian, Lynne "The Chaco Synthesis"